6,627 research outputs found
Measuring the Cost-effectiveness of Conservation Auctions Relative to Alternate Policy Mechanisms
The principle motivation for using price-discriminating conservation auctions is that they are expected to be significantly more cost-effective than fixed-price mechanisms. This paper measures cost effectiveness for tenders from two rounds of the Auction for Landscape Recovery in Western Australia relative to counterfactual fixed-price mechanisms. If we assume that the bid equals the compliance cost, the auction gives a significant cost saving over fixed-price mechanisms. If instead we assume that bids include an element of rent, fixed-price mechanisms can be more cost effective than the auction. The significance of these results is that a fixed price scheme may achieve a similar level of cost effectiveness to a conservation auction, when one or more of the following apply: compliance costs do not vary significantly between producers, auction bids have a significant element of rent and the auction incurs a significant additional administrative cost.Auctions, conservation, bio-diversity, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q57,
Estimating Urban Residential Water-Demand With Increasing Block Prices: The Case of Perth, Western Australia
This study uses panel data at suburb level to estimates the elasticity water demands in Perth, Australia from 1995 to 2005. After deriving the consumerâs water demand under a non-linear budget constraint, we estimate the water demand model, which accounts for how water (and other purchased goods) is used to satisfy fundamental desires of the household. We have applied the specification of price that provided the correctly estimated marginal price from the block tariff structure, and employed a maximum likelihood estimation technique to tackle the endogeneity and heteroskedasticity issues. Our estimation of water demand price elasticities are slightly higher (more elastic) than previous study in Perth, but broadly in line with other estimates in the literature.water demand, water pricing, block pricing, water resource management, household model, Demand and Price Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Q21, Q25 and Q23,
The galactic dynamo and its relation to the propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays
The problem of the origin and nature of the galactic magnetic field is of fundamental interest. The astrophysical consequences of this field are far-reaching, being particularly relevant to the unsolved problem of the origin of cosmic rays. An analysis is made of the small-scale and large-scale feature, of the distribution of arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays in the hope of deducing information about their sources and the strength and degree of irregularity of galactic and intergalactic oiagnetic fields. The outcome of these statistical searches is negative. After a review of the basic ideas of the turbulent dynamo, techniques are developed for performing numerical experiments upon the galactic dynamo. The results of these experiments indicate that dynamo action can occur in the galaxy and a steady solution is most easily excited. The dependence of the models upon boundary conditions and relevant astrophysioal parameters is investigated. An attempt is made to simulate the nonlinear effect of suppression of turbulence by the magnetic field, which is incorporated into the model proposed for the Galaxy. The propagation of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is examined for this . model. It is found that these particles cannot be of Galactic origin if they are protons, in agreement with the results obtained from conventional field models. Comparisons are made between the predictions of the dynamo models and the observed synchrotron radiation from the Galaxy and external galaxies which shed some light upon the nature of the intergalactic medium
Space group symmetry fractionalization in a chiral kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet
The anyonic excitations of a spin-liquid can feature fractional quantum
numbers under space-group symmetries. Detecting these fractional quantum
numbers, which are analogs of the fractional charge of Laughlin quasiparticles,
may prove easier than the direct observation of anyonic braiding and
statistics. Motivated by the recent numerical discovery of spin-liquid phases
in the kagome Heisenberg antiferromagnet, we theoretically predict the pattern
of space group symmetry fractionalization in the kagome lattice chiral spin
liquid. We provide a method to detect these fractional quantum numbers in
finite-size numerics which is simple to implement in DMRG. Applying these
developments to the chiral spin liquid phase of a kagome Heisenberg model, we
find perfect agreement between our theoretical prediction and numerical
observations.Comment: 5 pages plus appendi
Legal Planning for the Transfer of Water Between River Basins a Proposal for the Establishment of the Interbasin Transfer Commission
Legal Planning for the Transfer of Water Between River Basins a Proposal for the Establishment of the Interbasin Transfer Commission
Discovery of a Classic FR-II Broad Absorption Line Quasar from the FIRST Survey
We have discovered a remarkable quasar, FIRST J101614.3+520916, whose optical
spectrum shows unambiguous broad absorption features while its double-lobed
radio morphology and luminosity clearly indicate a classic Fanaroff-Riley Type
II radio source. Its radio luminosity places it at the extreme of the recently
established class of radio-loud broad absorption line quasars (Becker et al.
1997, 2000; Brotherton et al. 1998). Because of its hybrid nature, we speculate
that FIRST J101614.3+520916 is a typical FR-II quasar which has been
rejuvenated as a broad absorption line (BAL) quasar with a Compact Steep
Spectrum core. The direction of the jet axis of FIRST J101614.3+520916 can be
estimated from its radio structure and optical brightness, indicating that we
are viewing the system at a viewing angle of > 40 degrees. The position angles
of the radio jet and optical polarization are not well-aligned, differing by 20
to 30 degrees. When combined with the evidence presented by Becker et al.
(2000) for a sample of 29 BAL quasars showing that at least some BAL quasars
are viewed along the jet axis, the implication is that no preferred viewing
orientation is necessary to observe BAL systems in a quasar's spectrum. This,
and the probable young nature of compact steep spectrum sources, leads
naturally to the alternate hypothesis that BALs are an early stage in the lives
of quasars.Comment: 14 pages, 6 postscript figures; accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
A catalog of Nearby Poor Clusters of Galaxies
A catalog of 732 optically selected, nearby poor clusters of galaxies
covering the entire sky north of declination is presented. The
poor clusters, called WBL clusters, were identified as concentrations of 3 or
more galaxies with photographic magnitudes brighter than 15.7, possessing a
galaxy surface overdensity of . These criteria are consistent with
those used in the identification of the original Yerkes poor clusters, and this
new catalog substantially increases the sample size of such objects. These poor
clusters cover the entire range of galaxy associations up to and including
Abell clusters, systematically including poor and rich galaxy systems spanning
over three orders of magnitude in the cluster mass function. As a result, this
new catalog contains a greater diversity of richness and structures than other
group catalogs, such as the Hickson or Yerkes catalogs. The information on
individual galaxies includes redshifts and cross-references to other galaxy
catalogs. The entries for the clusters include redshift (where available) and
cross-references to other group and cluster catalogs.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, + one 20-page landscape table, accepted for
publication in A
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